The Right Crowd
by SoulOfAFangirl684
Summary: There had been a time when Alexis Rhodes thought reputation was everything. She knew now that sometimes perceptions were flawed.


**So uh… You know how I said I had another one-shot I wanted to write that would focus more on how Jaden's character has changed over the course of the series? Yeah, this isn't that. It's still in the works, but the more I started planning it out, the more I started thinking about the impact each of Jaden's friends has had on him—and vice versa—and I decided I wanted to write a one-shot focusing on Alexis. It's always disappointed me that she's so overlooked as the series goes on, because early on into GX, I felt like she was shaping up to be a really good character. And I wanted to explore that a little more, through one hypothetical backstory at least. **

**The Right Crowd**

Alexis Rhodes was a planner. She had to be. Step by step. One foot in front of the other. It was nice, _convenient_ for her life to be neat and orderly. But there was also no way she would have gotten through that last year of junior high without this one-day-at-a-time mindset.

So far her life at Duel Academy was following all her mental planning to the letter. These examiners seemed to have been selected precisely for their ability to mask all emotion, but Alexis could tell she'd impressed the one she'd been paired up against. It took some time for everyone's scores to be calculated, but applicants who'd passed got their dorm assignments throughout the day. Alexis had been tested early and received her Obelisk Blue uniform—which she changed into immediately and proudly—before the day's entry duels were even half over. There were already ferries running to take new students to the island so they could settle in right away, if desired… but Alexis decided to head up to the balcony and watch the rest of the duels instead.

A part of it was her studious nature—she would be spending the next three years learning alongside and dueling these kids; it couldn't hurt to get a look at what they were made of. But a second part of her was hoping someone_ else_ was just as studious. And she was soon rewarded for her persistence.

Alexis was pretty sure she wasn't the only new student whose heart skipped a beat upon catching sight of Zane Truesdale, but in her case it was not due to some baseless, and likely ill-advised, schoolgirl crush on the Academy's top student. In fact, there wasn't even much conjecture in that first assumption. She first spotted him just as he was turning to avoid two other first-year girls who were nudging each other and staring openly with wide eyes. Well, she supposed it couldn't be helped. She was about to _give_ them something to stare at and whisper about, or else risk losing him in the crowd.

"Zane!" she called, her voice ringing out clearly and easily crossing the space between them. "Wait up a second!"

Well, there was no way he could pretend not to have heard her. Everyone in the vicinity turned to look, if only just briefly. She ignored both them and the sigh he didn't bother to hide as he turned back her way. She studied his face for a second—he seemed just as reserved as he'd looked in the pictures, though maybe not as politely so as she'd once assumed—before stepping forward.

"Zane," she said again, sticking out her hand and stubbornly holding it there until he shook it. "It's nice to properly meet you. I'm Alexis. Atticus's sister."

Understanding and recognition abruptly softened his eyes a little, cleared some of the distance. His grasp on her hand grew steadier. "Of course. It's a pleasure."

He inclined his head to the side, ever so slightly, and she nodded. He let go of her hand, and she followed him to a quieter section of the balcony. He clearly didn't mince words—there was no small talk about her journey there or her dorm placement—and she decided she liked that.

After her introduction, they didn't even talk about Atticus that first day. They watched the rest of the duels mostly in silence. She glanced back at him when a very panicked-looking Syrus Truesdale just managed to pull through and win his duel, but Zane's only reaction was a deep sigh, so she decided not to comment.

And then there was the upstart, of course. Jaden Yuki. No one would be forgetting that name any time soon, he'd made sure of that.

And then the duels were over for the day, and she could focus on little else than all the newness right in front of her. The new Obelisk Blue students were given an actual _map_ to navigate their dorm, and she found herself actually in need of it. The blue dorm was like a mini mansion, dwarfed only by the school herself. Alexis had to admit to throwing her composure out the window and gaping around at her surroundings like all the other newbies.

Alexis found her way to her room… and saw one of the girls she'd passed by on her way to meet Zane already inside. Alexis knew she'd have a roommate, but the familiarity seemed to catch them both off-guard. They stared at each other for a moment… before the girl introduced herself as Jasmine. The other girl she'd been with—Mindy—was next door, and apparently the two had been friends since they first learned to talk. They were second-generation best friends or something.

Which Alexis thought made things a little awkward, but Jasmine didn't seem to mind that they'd been separated by the room assignments. It became clear why a second later when Mindy let herself into their room—apartment complex, really; the actual beds and bureaus were set back into their own little rooms—and flopped down onto the bed Jasmine had claimed.

"Isn't this all just the coolest?!" she exclaimed. "My dorm is bigger than my room back home! Even if I do have to share. But hey, my roommate seems pretty cool. What about you?" There was another moment of awkward silence as Jasmine tried to communicate with her eyes alone that her roommate was present and listening. But when Mindy realized this, there wasn't a sheepish look to be found. She sat up, beamed at Alexis, and said, "Oh, hey, you're that girl from the entry duels! Looks like Jasmine lucked out too. You were so cool today, going right up to Zane Truesdale like that and _making_ him pay attention. Like something out of a movie! Oh, I'm Mindy, by the way."

Alexis just blinked at her for a second, taking in Mindy's energy. But ultimately, she relaxed into a smile. "Thanks, but don't be too impressed. Zane's a… friend of a friend. We already had history. And I'm Alexis. It's nice to meet you both." She looked from one to the other, her smile widening. "I think it's shaping up to be a good year."

**…**

The three of them quickly became a single unit. (Alexis only met Mindy's roommate once—and she did seem sweet, but she also had old friends attending Duel Academy and ran with a different crowd.) The two girls were always together, and they easily welcomed Alexis into their fold. She knew their peers soon came to view her as the group's leader, but she knew better. There would be no group to lead if the other two had decided to stick to their status quo and leave her behind. Alexis didn't always catch all their old jokes, and she wasn't sure how she felt about the reputation they were garnering as the 'in crowd'—but she appreciated their company.

So yes, she always had someone to study with or sit next to at lunch. And that was nice. But there was no denying that Mindy and Jasmine had a history that she wasn't a part of. So whenever Alexis found herself wanting a little time apart from her new identity as the Queen of Obelisk Blue—a title that didn't seem to hold as much sway without her two backup soldiers at her sides—it was usually readily available.

She'd quietly slip away, sometimes just for a walk to organize her thoughts, sometimes to scope out the duels that were always taking place all over campus. And she usually found—again—that she wasn't the only one. This sort of reconnaissance seemed to be Zane's main hobby as well, and a silent understanding had passed between them on that first day that she would always have a place at his side.

To the rest of the student body, the way she'd so effortlessly penetrated Zane's self-imposed isolation only seemed to reinforce this view they had of her as Academy royalty. But that first day meeting Jasmine and Mindy was the closest Alexis ever came to sharing their past connection with them. There was certainly no one here brave enough to break through her own shell. Or so she thought.

**…**

Alexis had kept an eye on Jaden Yuki ever since his duel against Crowler. Frankly, he had yet to impress her a second time. His tendency to rush in late, forget his homework, and then sleep through the lessons he did attend got him—and his jittery little friend—moved to the front row in nearly every class. She supposed there was something to be said for loyalty, at least. (It even bothered Alexis a bit that so many of the teachers were so ready to pick on Syrus at a moment's notice. Zane's little brother was certainly nothing like they all might've expected. And, granted, she had to admit that he brought a lot of it on himself… But he was just… such an easy target. It felt petty and cowardly to go after him.) But she wasn't yet ready to conclude what Jaden's smart mouth said about his actual smarts… or skill as a duelist, for that matter.

He was _interesting_, though, she'd give him that. An interest that was only further piqued after his inconclusive late-night duel with Chazz. And then again after their own. (Mere association with Jaden seemed to be enough to influence other students to ignore the rules.) Honestly, Alexis wasn't even terribly upset that she'd lost. It had been a good duel. (And it _had_ been close.) And it pleased her to finally be able to confirm her initial suspicions—that his win against Crowler hadn't been a fluke.

Her first few weeks were action-packed enough to keep her mind occupied. But the moment she'd been waiting for (and maybe dreading, just a little) finally arrived around the first-month mark of her time on the island.

She and Zane—for all the time they spent in each other's company—never spoke much. Occasionally he'd correct some comment she made while they were watching a duel, or otherwise clue her in to some strategy she was struggling to pick up on, but that was about it.

But maybe she appeared unusually solemn that day. Or maybe _he_ was feeling unusually nostalgic. Either way, when the duel they were observing ended, he gestured silently for her to follow him once more, and she followed without a second thought.

There was a split second when she thought he was just walking her back to her dorm—a chivalry she didn't typically expect from him—but then he turned towards the boys' buildings. Her steps didn't falter, but she was glad the dorms wouldn't be that busy at this time of day. She knew people would whisper about them regardless, but she really didn't need _those_ kinds of rumors floating around.

Zane took her up to the second floor, the last door on the left. He hesitated outside, and she glanced at him quizzically. She knew many of the Obelisk legacies—those students who managed to hold onto their blue status throughout all three years of their time here, those who showed the most promise—were given private rooms on the top floor, so she doubted this was Zane's dorm… But when he pulled out a key, it hit her very suddenly where they must be.

The stricken feeling in her chest must have traveled up to show on her face, because after unlocking the door, Zane paused with his hand still on the knob.

"Chancellor Sheppard let me keep my key after I moved out. They never reassigned our old room. No one's touched anything." He pushed the door open a crack, pulled the key back out and pressed it firmly into her palm. Another silent understanding passed between them—it was hers now. She wondered briefly if he knew she'd already snuck out on her own to poke around the creepy abandoned dorm at the center of this mystery. But then Zane was walking away, and the room before her reclaimed her thoughts in their entirety.

With only her fingertips, she pushed the door open just enough to step inside and then closed it behind her again. The room was dim, but the curtains were open, letting the sunlight in at least. Alexis didn't move for the light switch. Her eyes roved over the empty half of the room—bed turned down to perfection, not a personal possession in sight—that she was sure had been just as neat even when Zane had been living here. The other side of the room was a different story.

Even from the doorway, she could see spare cards spread out on the bedside table, a ukulele leaning up against one wall. Those awful tourist shirts from their family trip to Hawaii were spilling out of the closet, and it was no surprise that the second bed's blankets had been left in a messy heap. Everything about this space just screamed Atticus.

For a second, the sight alone was almost enough to bowl her over. After his disappearance… when it became apparent that the school had no leads on what had happened to him and their hope of ever getting him back was dwindling day by day… Her brother was rarely brought up in her household. Sometimes it felt almost as if he had never existed at all. These moments hurt even more than the initial backlash from the news that he was missing. And only made her even more determined to come to this school and find him herself.

When she was finally able to move further into the room, Alexis found herself stopping at his bedside table, scanning over the cards he must have been considering adding to his deck. Duel Monsters may have been the only thing Atticus took seriously, and she had to smile a little at the state of his cards. There _was_ some semblance of order to the way they were displayed. Though, if her own sorting methods were anything to go by, no one would understand this particular ordering system but Atticus himself.

Alexis eased a slip of paper out from underneath one stack and froze. It wasn't evidence, like she'd been hoping to find. Just notes from whatever class he must have had that day. Maybe one that had made him think about fine-tuning his deck. But it wasn't the content that made her freeze. It was Atticus's handwriting. She'd know it anywhere. Alexis hadn't had her own cell phone back then, so she and her brother had kept in touch via handwritten letters, like in some old-time movie. It had made for a drawn-out correspondence, but it had never felt stilted. She could—and did—tell her brother everything. It was like a writing a diary that sent back reassuring, uplifting responses. There was no way to describe the hole left inside her when his letters just… stopped coming.

Seeing that familiar penmanship now… It gutted her all over again. She snatched her hand away as if she'd been burned and physically staggered back, bumping into the bed with enough force to lose her balance. She sat down hard on his blankets. And something inside of Alexis just… deflated.

She let herself tip over and curled up on her side, fisting her hands in his blankets. She let herself have this moment and just… inhaled. That last year, Atticus had fallen into a stage where he spent half his allowance testing out cheap colognes… Each new letter would arrive spritzed with a different one. He'd even mentioned in one how much it had begun to annoy his roommate. (And now that she'd met Zane, she could picture that all too well.) But his blankets… This was the way Atticus smelled underneath all those fun fragrances. Whenever he'd come home to visit and she'd run into his arms the second he walked through the door… Those tight embraces that marked each of their reunions… That's what these blankets smelled of.

The tears and sobs burst out of her before she even felt them coming. Her whole body shook. Her own wailing reached a pitch that made her worry someone passing by might come in to investigate. She tried to force it back down, but it was a fruitless effort.

When the storm inside of her finally died down, Alexis found that it had been replaced by an external one. It was not yet late enough for the sun to have set, but the room was dark. She sat up to see that angry clouds had moved to block the sun. Great. Just what she needed today.

Alexis kept the key to Atticus's room held tightly in her hand as she slipped out of the boys' dorm as quickly and quietly as possible, her head down. But then she was faced with another problem. She could hardly go back to her own dorm. She knew her face must be a splotchy mess, eyes red from the strain. At the very least, she knew her voice would be a nasally horror, making it immediately apparent to all that she'd just been crying. Mindy and Jasmine didn't even know she had a brother yet, and she certainly wasn't in any state of mind to get into that story right now. So, without giving herself time to think about it, she took off into the woods towards the old abandoned dorm instead.

The first drops began to fall before she'd even reached the tree line. The sprinkles morphed into a full-on downpour in record time. Alexis tossed her first plan—no one ever said she couldn't be adaptable too—and instead dove for cover at the first sign of shelter: this giant tree with a gaping hole at its base.

Crouched down, it actually housed her quite comfortably. In fact, it was a space big enough for two people. And, as it turned out, already living up to its capabilities. Alexis had about a second of peace before she realized she was pressed up, side to side, against another person.

There wasn't quite enough space for either of them to jump—even figuratively—but their heads snapped in each other's direction. She blamed it on her already muddled mind, but it took Alexis an extra second to realize it was Jaden Yuki's wide eyes she was staring into.

He recovered first. "Oh, hey, Alexis. What are _you_ doing here?"

"_I_ should be asking that question." That… was not actually true. There was no solid reason either one of them should be in the woods, but they were closer to _his_ dorm… But it was the first thing that popped into her head, and she went with it, just daring Jaden to contradict her.

He didn't, just blinked at her for a second. (God, she wasn't sure how much longer she could stand to look into those big round eyes. He was so optimistically trusting. Painfully naïve. Just asking for someone crueler to take advantage of him, really.) "Well, I was out exploring the island a little more. This place is so cool! Did you know there's an actual volcano up that mountain? Anyway, Syrus warned me it was gonna rain, but I didn't listen. It was so sunny an hour ago! Island weather, I guess."

He seemed totally unperturbed to have been caught out like this. Alexis just sighed and leaned her head back against the tree. Her sinuses still ached from her little episode earlier. "Yeah. I guess so."

She knew Jaden was still studying her. Go figure. Even he wasn't dumb enough to miss that something was off about her. "Um, Alexis? Are you… okay?"

Damn that innocence in his voice. It tugged at her heartstrings, convinced her his concern was genuine and well-meaning. Made her want to open up to him. But for now she fought it back down. She'd lost control enough for one afternoon. Her voice was level. "Why do you ask?"

"I just never thought I'd see someone like you out here in the rain, looking like this." That light quality never left his voice, even if his words were a bit insensitive.

She latched onto the diversion they offered, keeping her voice stern. "What does that mean—someone like me?"

Jaden wasn't the least bit fazed. In fact, she thought his smile grew wider. "You know, the golden popular girl. Always aces all her tests—_and_ shows up on time. You've probably been a part of the right crowd all your life."

_The right crowd_… His words struck a chord deep within her, and it ached in a way that was distinctly… unpleasant. She couldn't stop the scoff that rose in her throat. "Sometimes being in the _right_ crowd is overrated… Sometimes it doesn't mean what everyone thinks it does."

The curiosity had sparked back to life in his eyes. She knew he wouldn't let this go, especially not when they were stuck together here anyway. He made a soft little sound, almost like a laugh. "I wouldn't know. It's never been_ my_ crowd, that's for sure."

Maybe it was precisely because his prodding was so gentle that she opened up to him—barely prodding at all—almost before even making the conscious decision to. "It's not really like that here. I scored really well on my entrance duel, so people started paying attention to me for that… And I already had a past connection to the school's top student… And I _do_ care about my grades… But Mindy and Jasmine are my _friends_, not shallow lackeys who hang out with me just to pad their reputations… And I'm not just some superficial bitch obsessed with what other people think of me. None of this was on _purpose_."

He managed to raise up his hands in front of him in their limited space, putting a stop to her rant. "Whoa, calm down! I do think you're really cool, but not because of anything other people are saying. It's 'cause you're an awesome duelist—seriously, you almost had me the other night! I don't care about any of that other stuff."

She had to smile a little. Of course he didn't. "I know. But it matters to _me_."

The rain had let up a little bit, but they stayed put. Alexis took a deep breath and continued, "Because the thing is, Jaden—whether you meant it that way or not—I _did_ use to be that girl. I wasn't the leader, but I was a part of that crowd before coming here."

"Yeah? What changed?" He looked genuinely interested in her angst, she had to at least give him that.

She laughed a little, entirely humorless. "I take it you don't have much experience with middle school girls' politics?"

"Absolutely none," he confirmed, sounding almost cheerful about it. And she couldn't really blame him.

She sighed. "Yeah, well… Let's just say, my first year of junior high, I kind of… accidentally fell in with the popular crowd. It was so early into the year that those boundaries hadn't even been set yet… But the girl who would become the leader of it all sat next to me in our math class. She forgot her homework one day, and the teacher was really strict, so I let her copy mine, just that once. It was literally that simple."

She glanced at Jaden. He was still paying attention, so she went on. "I was new to the district, so I didn't have any old friends from elementary school. This girl invited me to start hanging out with _her_ friends, and it became clear pretty quickly that they were _that_ crowd. The ones other girls took cues from and tried to imitate, even if they wouldn't admit it. And it wasn't like you're probably imagining. I wasn't the smart, desperate nerd that they kept along just to belittle and carry their books or whatever. That homework incident was a one-time thing. These were the girls I sat with at lunch and hung out with on the weekends. We went to movies and had sleepovers and all talked and laughed _together_. I _was_ one of them. And I was proud to be. For about two years."

Jaden shifted a little at her ominous cliffhanger. "Okay… So what happened?"

She shook her head. "Something stupid." She glanced at him a little apprehensively. "Look, I'm not saying we didn't have our cliché popular girl… moments. We gossiped, we had rude inside jokes about other kids in our year… We weren't always very nice. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a part of that side of things too."

A smile quirked at Jaden's lips. "Are you trying to scare me away? 'Cause, I mean, I can tell you're not like that _now_."

She gave him the first real smile she'd formed all afternoon. "Thanks."

He shrugged. "Hey, people change. So what happened?"

"There was this mouse running around the locker room one day. One of my friends caught it and shut it in another girl's locker. When she found it, she screamed so loud, the teacher came running. It went from being a joke to being a problem real fast…"

"And they blamed it on you?" he guessed.

"Bingo," she muttered. "It was the end of the school year, and we got into a fight about it that afternoon… That led to us not talking all summer break. And when school started again, everything had just… changed."

Well, there was a little more to it than that. A pervasive self-doubt that she held back for fear that it would go right over Jaden's head. She'd spent that whole next year wondering if it had been her fault after all. If maybe she should have been the one to just apologize and move on. Would they still have shut her out if she hadn't made a scene about it afterwards? If she'd just laughed along like usual? Or had she always been that disposable to them and just never noticed?

"That last year of junior high sucked," she concluded bluntly. "It wasn't just that they wouldn't talk to me. Any time I saw them in the halls, they'd start whispering as soon as they passed by. You know, just far _enough_ past that I'd _know_ it was about me? Petty stuff like that. But it still hurt. And all the other kids remembered me from when_ I_ was the one laughing and whispering, so no one was exactly jumping to fill the space they'd left." Not to mention this had been right around the time her brother disappeared, cutting off her other lifeline. "It was a rough year. Ultimately, I decided to focus on my dueling so I'd be accepted here."

Jaden grinned. "So it all worked out."

The storm had let up fully now, so he crawled out from under the shelter of the tree and stretched out. She followed his lead, suddenly feeling a little awkward now that the moment was broken. "Uh, Jaden? Thanks for… you know, listening to all that? It must've sounded pretty dumb…"

"Nah, I get it." And he did seem like maybe he understood why the experience would still weight on her mind, even now that she'd moved forward. "It was something you needed to get off your chest. That's what friends are for, right? Anyway, I should probably get back before the rain starts up again. Later, Lex!"

She watched as he took off back in the direction of the Slifer dorm, feeling a little lighter.

Friends, huh? Had their one duel made them friends—and not just rivals? She wasn't sure, but it had a nice ring to it.

**…**

There had been a time when Alexis Rhodes thought reputation was everything. She knew now that sometimes perceptions were flawed.

Not long after this unexpected heart-to-heart, she ended up baring her soul to Jaden again, when they caught each other sneaking around the abandoned dorm. This time she _did_ give him the whole story about her brother and what she was really doing here on the island. And it wasn't even much of a surprise when he vowed to help her find Atticus. That's what friends were for, after all.

At first, Jasmine and Mindy were appalled at her unabashed association with a bunch of Slifer Reds. But they always expressed their disbelief to her face, not behind her back. And it wasn't too long before _everyone_ started to see that there was more to Jaden Yuki than first met the eye.

They _did_ rescue her brother and save the world a few times and make a lot of friends along the way. As it turned out, sometimes the right crowd was the one that occasionally got you brainwashed or sucked into an alternate dimension. But Alexis would—and had—go through hell and back for these guys. Because she knew, without a single doubt, that they would do the same for her.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.**

**Because she gets so little focus in the actual series, I like to think Alexis already had a chance to grow in some meaningful way before the story even started. And I'm definitely still a little hung up on the revelation that Jaden didn't have the flawless happy childhood that I would have expected, which I'm sure influenced the route I decided to go with her, at least a little. If not the group dynamics, it is pretty much canon that he could relate to that feeling of no one wanting to associate with you. So many of these characters are so interesting and so overlooked! I do still plan to write that other one-shot focusing on Jaden himself, but… Atticus is so interesting to me too, and honestly, the idea I've had for Zane is getting more and more fleshed out and will probably be next. I've fallen down a deep hole, guys. (And I'm kind of loving it.) **


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